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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704768">the king's collar</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/parsnipit/pseuds/parsnipit'>parsnipit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Owl House (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Bonding, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, Shapeshifting, allusions to bill cipher but like, eda isn't the only one with a strange body-warping curse and precarious means to control it, in this house we love and respect the king of demons, nothing terribly important, protective eda, the king of demons version 2.0: spooky</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 09:33:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,627</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704768</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/parsnipit/pseuds/parsnipit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>[Luz’s fingers slip underneath his collar, and he freezes.</p>
<p>“We’ll just take this off and have Eda wash it,” Luz says, unbuckling the collar and pulling it away from his neck. “Hey, it has little glyphs on the inside, that’s cool! Is that your name, King?”</p>
<p>But King can’t hear her. King can’t think. King can’t speak. King can’t even breathe through his sudden panic, because she has his <i>collar,</i> and this entire morning just got <i>so much worse.]</i></p>
<p>Or: Luz learns that there’s more to the King of Demons than meets the eye.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eda Clawthorne &amp; King, Eda Clawthorne &amp; Luz Noceda, King &amp; Luz Noceda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>271</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the king's collar</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <b>warnings: violence, minor body horror, minor self-loathing, descriptions of pain</b>
</p>
<p>a/n: i just finished the owl house and i,,,love king with my whole heart,,,blease if anyone wants to shout at me about this cartoon you can find me at <a>parsnipit</a> on tumblr.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><span>One of the worst mornings of King’s life starts with a three-eyed skunk, as so many worst mornings do. He’d woken up early to run an errand for Eda, so things were already off to a bad start, and they only got worse when he realized he had to take Luz along. Now, don’t get him wrong—Luz is totally awesome,</span> <span>but she has </span><em><span>so much</span></em><span> energy in the mornings.</span> <span>He can barely hold his own eyes open, and she’s already bouncing alongside him, chattering cheerfully as they pick their way through the forest. He doesn't even know what she’s chattering about. He’s not cognizant enough for this. </span></p>
<p>
  <span>“Mushrooms this way,” he says, batting his way through the briars and yawning widely. “I, uh, think.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Aww, buddy. Are you tired?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He squints at her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Taking that as a yes,” Luz says, then crouches and holds her arms out for him. “Want me to carry you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King crawls into her arms and snuggles up against her chest. Once he’s secure, Luz straightens back up and looks around the empty trail they find themselves on. The trees crowd around them, their shadows stretched long by the weak morning sunlight leaking through the canopy. The mushrooms Eda wants grow deep in the woods; he and Luz still have several miles to go before they’re anywhere close.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That way,” King says again, pointing a claw. Luz starts walking. That’s one advantage to having a human of his own, he supposes. Sure, she’s not the most majestic steed, but she’s reliable, and anyway, her legs are longer than his whole body. Plus, she’s, like, </span>
  <em>
    <span>super </span>
  </em>
  <span>comfy, and sometimes she gives him chin scratches while she walks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All of those advantages do not, however, keep her from blundering straight into the skunk. She stumbles and shrieks before King even notices the bushy, three-eyed menace in their path—his own eyes, which had been slowly sliding shut as the gentle rocking of Luz’s steps lulled him, snap wide open. He yelps in alarm and has only a split second to take in the situation before he’s blasted with the reeking scent of sulfur. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah! No, no no no nope—” Luz skitters backwards, squeezing King hard enough that he wheezes. They leave the skunk behind quickly, but the scent lingers, and it is absolutely the worst thing King has ever had the misfortune of smelling </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Oh my gosh, that’s awful. What was that? Was that a skunk?”</span>
</p>
<p><span>King squirms out of her arms, whining and scraping his paws over his nasals. The smell is so strong he can barely think.</span> <span>He jams his face into the leaves, whuffing in their musty, damp scent. He strongly considers jamming a few of them up his nose because anything is better than the sulfur, </span><em><span>anything. </span></em></p>
<p>
  <span>“Agh, yes, it was a skunk,” he says, flopping over and rolling against the dirt. The smell clings to his pelt and his paws and the roof of his mouth. “What? You don’t have those in your world?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, we do, just—er, not usually with that many eyes,” Luz admits. She wrinkles her own nose, a grimace on her face. “This is gross.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, why’d you have to walk right into it?” King moans, scrambling up to scrape his flank against a tree, instead. Nothing, it seems, is going to lift the scent from his skin. “Eda’s gonna kill us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eda! I bet she has some sort of magic spell to make us smell better,” Luz says, her eyes shining. She scoops him up, pinching her nose and running back the way they came. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eda does not, as it turns out, have a magic spell to make them smell better. She does, however, lock them both outside with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a box of baking soda, a jug of soap, and orders to “absolutely not come anywhere within a five-hundred foot radius of me until that smell is </span>
  <em>
    <span>gone.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even Hooty cringes when they draw near, shrinking back into the door. “Can’t you guys wash up a little further away? You reek, hoot!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King growls at him, grabbing the baking soda and stomping away from the house with Luz on his heels. He immediately lathers himself up with the soap while Luz mixes the peroxide and baking soda—a mixture Eda swore would help before abruptly kicking them both out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Here,” Luz says once she’s finished, motioning King closer. “I’ll help.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King sits down with his back to her, letting her rub the mixture into his fur. It doesn’t smell pleasant, but at least it’s better than that noxious </span>
  <em>
    <span>skunk</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He sighs in relief, dipping his claws into the mix and rubbing it across his skull. As Luz’s fingers comb through the fur on his back and shoulders, he leans back and lets himself relax.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then Luz’s fingers slip underneath his collar, and he freezes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll just take this off and have Eda wash it,” Luz says, unbuckling the collar and pulling it away from his neck. “Hey, it has little glyphs on the inside, that’s cool! Is that your name, King?”</span>
</p>
<p><span>But King can’t hear her. King can’t think. King can’t speak. King can’t even breathe</span> <span>through his sudden panic</span><em><span>, </span></em><span>because that was his </span><em><span>collar,</span></em><span> and this entire morning just got </span><em><span>so much worse.</span></em></p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Luz knows something’s up when King doesn’t answer her the second time she calls his name. He sits stiffly in front of her, his hands on his knees and his eyes vacant. He doesn’t even twitch when she speaks, and worry crashes over her like a cold wave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “King? Hey, buddy, what’s up?” She reaches forward, jostling his shoulder gently to get his attention. “Is something wrong?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He responds, then. He tilts his skull in her direction, and she realizes, with a sickening jolt, that his eyes aren’t just vacant—his eyes are </span>
  <em>
    <span>gone. </span>
  </em>
  <span>His sockets are empty black holes, now, and his jaws tremble faintly. He pushes himself to his feet, then stumbles and drops to all fours, his head held low. A breathless whine comes from him, and Luz knows then that something is very, very wrong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eda!” she shouts, whirling around. “Hooty, get Eda. Something’s wrong with King!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even Hooty seems to sense the gravity of the situation, and he quickly pulls his head inside of the house with a squawk of alarm. As he does, Luz carefully shifts forward, holding her hands out. She brings one to rest on King’s shoulder, and she can feel him shivering violently. The second she touches him, he looks at her again, and the grief on his face makes her heart splinter in her chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, Luz,” he says, and he sounds </span>
  <em>
    <span>terrified. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“I wish you hadn’t done that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then he changes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His pelt ripples oddly beneath her hand, and for a moment he feels immaterial and </span>
  <em>
    <span>cold. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Then he lurches away from her, a shriek of agony splitting the air between them as he begins to grow larger and larger and larger. Luz stumbles backwards, breathless with fear, as her little King begins to tower over her—over the house, over the forest. He fills the whole sky, and when his jaws part around another helpless wail of pain, the sound echoes across the isles. She squeezes her eyes shut and clamps her hands over her ears, her own cry of terror drowned by the sound of bone crunching and fur tearing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Luz!” Eda shouts behind her, and Luz has never been so grateful to hear her mentor’s voice. Strong arms wrap around her, hauling her away from King. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“N-no, no, I’m fine, I’m okay, but—” When Luz opens her eyes again, there’s a monster in front of her. It’s massive, so big it blocks the sun, and in its right eye is a single pinprick of furious red light. A row of savage, boney spikes runs from the crest of its skull to the tip of its tail—no, to the tips of its </span>
  <em>
    <span>tails</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Luz realizes—and it has six legs, the four foremost of which have those same wicked spikes near their elbows. “What—what’s wrong with him? Eda, what’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong </span>
  </em>
  <span>with him?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’ll be alright,” Eda says firmly, squeezing Luz’s shoulder before stepping in front of her. “Where’s his collar?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz fumbles to hand King’s collar to her. The glyphs she’d seen woven into the inside of it are glowing now, and she realizes nauseously that this collar is more important to her friend than she’d ever realized—and she’d just </span>
  <em>
    <span>taken </span>
  </em>
  <span>it from him. “I’m sorry,” she says, her voice cracking. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span>—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s alright, kid. We’ll talk about it later. Right now, we need to get this back on him, and I’m gonna need your help. You up for it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eda looks back at her, golden eyes fierce, and Luz forces herself to stand a little straighter. She did this to King. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>has </span>
  </em>
  <span>to help fix it. “Yes,” she says. Her voice wobbles, but there’s no hesitation in it. “Just tell me what to do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s my girl.” Eda points towards King. “I need you to distract him for me. He’s not in his right mind, so he’ll try to hurt us. Take my staff and fly ahead of him, but don’t go anywhere near his paws or his mouth. Owlbert will keep you safe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz nods rapidly, reaching for the staff as soon as Eda calls it to them. She climbs on, and Owlbert takes flight with a determined cry, his wings glinting in the gaudy red sunrise. They fly towards King’s head, and King rears onto his hind paws and roars. The sound shakes her to her bones, and she yanks back on the staff, narrowly avoiding a swipe from one of King’s massive paws. His claws are devastatingly sharp—they always have been. Usually, that’s a problem for the couch cushions and the floorboards. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now it’s a problem for, you know, staying in one piece.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“King, it’s okay!” she shouts, and King pauses. He lifts his muzzle, his teeth glinting in the sunlight. “It’s me. C’mon, it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>me, </span>
  </em>
  <span>little guy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King snaps at her the way she’s seen him snap at pesky flies—jaws opening, purple tongue curling, teeth clacking together with a splintering </span>
  <em>
    <span>crack! </span>
  </em>
  <span>Owlbert hoots in alarm and surges backwards, dragging them both away from King’s mouth. For a moment, Luz can see over his head. She can see </span>
  <em>
    <span>Eda. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she watches, Eda scrambles up King’s foreleg, her fists tight in his shaggy fur and her eyes alight with determination. King starts to glance back at her, and Luz surges in before he can, shouting and waving her arms to get his attention. “King, hey, over here! C’mon, don’t you wanna catch me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King growls, a subsonic noise that rolls through the air around them. Blue fire begins to lick around his teeth, and Luz has just enough time to squeak in alarm—then he opens his mouth, and that jet of fire whips towards her. She hauls Owlbert up, scrambling to grab her notepad and scribble a glyph onto it. As soon as King’s mouth shuts, she pushes the staff down. Owlbert fights her, his wings pinwheeling. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Trust me,” she insists, raising her voice to be heard over the wind. “Just get me close enough to touch his mouth!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The staff dives, and Luz clings fiercely to it. As soon as they’re close enough, she reaches out and slaps the glyph onto King’s nose. Ice immediately sprouts from it, coiling around his muzzle and crusting his jaws shut. He squeals in surprise—he sounds too much like </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>King when he does so, and her heart aches in her chest. He drops back to all fours, scraping his paws over his muzzle and swinging his head. Fat drops of water slide from his skull, splattering onto the ground below, as he melts the ice from his teeth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eda, Luz notices with relief, is finally on King’s back. She draws a glyph in the air, and the collar suddenly grows in size—its own glyphs glow blue and bright, and Luz sees that same faint glow emanating from beneath the ruff of thick fur around King’s neck. King’s eyes widen, suddenly, and he slams his head against a nearby tree. The ice encasing his muzzle finally shatters, and he whips around and shrieks at Eda.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s enough of that,” Eda says, terse and stern, before drawing a glyph that has King’s head snapping back with a cry of pain. While he’s distracted, she quickly presses the collar into place. King screams, and then he doesn’t stop screaming. “Luz, quickly! The buckle!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz pushes Owlbert down as fast as she can, and he jerks to a stop next to the thick metal buckle of King’s collar. She pulls the leather strap of his collar through—it’s so </span>
  <em>
    <span>heavy </span>
  </em>
  <span>like this—and fumbles to latch it into place. Her eyes sting as she does, and she has to swallow hard around the lump in her throat. King sounds like he’s in so much </span>
  <em>
    <span>pain. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as the collar is buckled, King begins to shift again; he staggers on his paws, wailing miserably and slinging his skull from side to side. Eda slides to the ground, motioning for Luz to follow. Luz lands beside her, and Eda wraps an arm around her shoulders as they watch King suffer. There are tears in her eyes, too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, poor guy,” she says, her voice rough and thick with grief. King’s legs buckle beneath him, and he rolls onto his side and lifts his head and howls. Sweat froths on his lower jaw, and his paws scrabble helplessly at the ground, his wicked claws tearing up clots of mud and grass. The red light in his right eye flickers and fades and dies, and the second it does, Eda strides forward to kneel next to his head. He cries at her, his jaws still snapping, until she wraps her arms around his muzzle and presses her forehead to his. “Shh. King, shh, settle down. It’s alright. You’re alright now, I’ve got you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“E-Eda,” King wails, his flanks heaving with each ragged breath. “Eda!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know.” Eda presses her lips to his skull, squeezing her eyes shut and smoothing a hand over the fur of his neck. “I know, I know, little one, but it’s over now. I’m right here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“King…?” Luz can barely speak around the lump in her throat. Her voice shakes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come here,” Eda says, holding a hand out for her. “It’s alright, come here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz kneels next to her, her eyes hot and her vision fractured by tears. King can’t even look at her, pressing his skull against Eda’s stomach with a moan of pain. Eda hushes him softly, rubbing a hand over the side of his head before cupping it over his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s going to be okay,” Eda tells her, voice steady. “He’ll just be a little sore for the next few days. That form takes a lot out of him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry.” Luz swipes at her eyes, her breath shuddering. “I didn’t know taking his collar off would do that. I just didn’t want to get it dirty. I should have asked first, I should have—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eda reaches out, setting a hand on the back of her head. “Yeah, you should’ve, but there’s no undoing that. Now you know better, and this won’t happen again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz shakes her head furiously. She won’t touch King’s collar ever ever </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever </span>
  </em>
  <span>again. You couldn’t pay her to. “Never!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good. You’ve got no reason to feel bad, then. You couldn’t have known.” Eda sighs, moving her hand from Luz’s head to rest it on King’s shuddering side, instead. “Maybe we should have told you. It’s just been so long since we’ve ever had to worry about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The glyphs on his collar—” Luz sniffs, wiping her eyes against her sleeve. “They’re a spell, aren’t they?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eda nods, rubbing behind King’s horns. “A very old spell. It keeps King safe. It’s a long story, but—well, maybe we’ll tell you, someday. Right now we need to get this guy inside and cleaned up, though.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King whines as Eda stands and scoops him up. He wraps his arms around her neck, burying his face against her throat and keeping his tail tucked between his legs. Luz follows them inside, guilt sitting like a rock in her stomach. She sits on the edge of the couch, and Eda sets King down next to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Keep an eye on him, will you?” she asks, ruffling Luz’s hair. “I’m gonna get some stuff.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as Eda leaves, King opens his eyes. Tears, Luz notices with horror, line the rims of his sockets. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, his voice hoarse. “I’m s-so sorry, Luz!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? No, no, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m </span>
  </em>
  <span>the one who should be sorry, you—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I tried to hurt you!” King cries, curling himself up tighter and watching her with stark terror. “I could have hurt you, I could have killed you, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>and </span>
  </em>
  <span>Eda, and I—I—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz leans down and hugs him, pressing her face to his skull. He freezes up, his breath shaking, before he wraps his arms around her and </span>
  <em>
    <span>clings. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She sits up, dragging him into her lap and rocking him slowly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay,” she whispers. “It’s okay, you didn’t mean to, it’s okay. Nobody got hurt. I’m not mad at you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You should b-be. I’m a monster!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are </span>
  <em>
    <span>not,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Luz says fiercely, squeezing him tight. “You’d never hurt us if you had a choice. I know you, King—you’d never hurt anyone if you didn’t have to.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King sniffles, curling his claws into her jacket. His lower jaw wobbles. “How can you say that? After you saw what I did, what I </span>
  <em>
    <span>am—”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>you,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Luz insists, cupping his face in her palms. “I don’t know what that other form was, but it wasn’t something you had control over, was it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, but—but Luz, that’s me too.” King rubs his eyes with a paw. “Even if I try not to let it get to me, all that bad stuff, it’s a part of me. I’m not safe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I guess not,” Luz admits, and she squeezes him a little harder when he flinches. “Nobody’s completely safe, but if you’re ever not safe, we know what to do to help, and we </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to help. It’s just like you and me helping Eda when she’s in her other form. Okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King hesitates, then nods. “Y-yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m </span>
  </em>
  <span>sorry, too,” Luz says. She takes a deep breath. “I should never have taken your collar off without asking.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>King brings his paws up, resting them on the back of her hands. “It’s okay. You didn’t know. I mean, um. I would appreciate it if you never did that again, but I’m not angry. I’m just sad that I scared you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And I’m sad that I put you through that,” Luz says, knocking their foreheads together. “It looked awful.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It felt awful,” King admits, glancing down. He sets his paws in his lap, his shoulders drooping. When he speaks again, his voice is smaller than she’s ever heard it. “It’s really scary, and it hurts a lot.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, then, I guess you should be grateful I brought you this,” Eda says, materializing behind the couch and thrusting a cup of pink liquid towards King. “Drink up, runt.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eda,” King says, holding his arms out needily. Eda scoops him up, cradling him in her arms and letting him burrow close. “I’m sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you listen to anything the kid told you? It’s not your fault. You don’t get mad at </span>
  <em>
    <span>me </span>
  </em>
  <span>when I’m in my other form, do you?” Eda ruffles a hand across his skull, then pushes the cup into his paws. As he drinks, she looks sternly at Luz. “Not your fault, either. Everybody made mistakes, and they’re all forgiven. We’re gonna be more careful from now on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz nods adamantly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good. Now go finish cleaning up.” Eda wrinkles her nose, pulling her hand back from King’s fur. Her fingers are damp with soap and hydrogen peroxide. “You both still stink.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz scoops King up once he’s finished drinking Eda’s potion, carrying him back to the bathroom and depositing him into the tub. She rinses the sweat and suds from his fur with warm water, and he sits quietly, his head bowed in exhaustion. As soon as he’s clean, she dries him with the fluffiest towel she can find and returns him to Eda. Then she goes to clean herself up, and when she’s done, she finds Eda and King on the couch in the living room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eda holds King close to her chest, one hand cradling the back of his skull. She’s wrapped him in a thick quilt, and his eyes are finally closed, his breathing quiet and calm. There’s something sad in Eda’s eyes, when she looks at him, and she’s humming softly under her breath. It sounds like a lullaby.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eda…?” Luz asks, coming to sit next to her. Eda leans back, draping one arm around Luz’s shoulders. “Are </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m okay, kid. Just thinking.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luz curls into her side, looking quietly at King. “There’s a lot more to him than I know about, huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, definitely.” Eda ruffles her hair. “We’ll tell you all about it, sometime, when he’s ready.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You think he’ll ever be ready?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think he’s getting there. He loves you, Luz.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A smile flickers across Luz’s face, and she reaches out to pet King’s skull. He stirs softly, nuzzling into her hand. “Yeah,” she says. “I know. I love him, too.”</span>
</p>
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